El pequeño zoológico

The surprising animal stories collected in this very personal bestiary demonstrate once again the independent modernity of the great Swiss author.

The treatment of living beings in the work of Robert Walser is not distinguished by humanization or the longing for the wild state, but rather supposes a playful reflection, although by no means inoffensive, on the ties between man and creatures, which They often accompany him like mute and helpless neighbors whom, as master, he is forced to command or justify. His cats, little mice, sparrows, or porcupines are sometimes brutally serious, and other times, poignantly sensitive. Walser is as fascinated by his domestic and helpful character as by his inimitable identity, a double aspect that is also that of the complex relationship of the individual with culture and society.